Research

New technologies, data, and algorithms impact every aspect of daily life. It takes multidisciplinary research to investigate how we design, build and adapt to new innovations. It takes many kinds of qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods, crafted ethically, to understand how we socialize, how we learn, and how we can solve social problems. Our faculty are the global leaders in this research.

Our Research

Strategy

Our research excellence strategy involves a comprehensive program for conducting original research, recruiting the world’s top researchers, and advancing both the scientific and humanistic understanding of the impact of the internet, data, and information technologies on society.

We have a consolidated agenda—across our research and teaching activities—that addresses important questions for public life, develops our strengths in key domains of inquiry, emphasizes methodological innovation, and engages in international and collaborative research.

Informing Public Policy

Whilst our research contributes to academic knowledge and debate, it also affects policy and practice beyond academia. Given our international perspective and multidisciplinary approach, the reach of our impact is global and we are enabled to tackle the increasingly complicated challenges that modern society poses.

We achieve further impact with methodological innovations, tool building, engagement with industry and active participation in wider debates about the role of technology in public life.

Impact

Our research contributes both to academic knowledge and debates as well as to policy and practice, and we have had a significant impact on policy debate, formulation and implementation around the globe, as well as a secondary impact on people’s wellbeing, safety and understanding.

Our impact in scholarly publishing is significant, but we go beyond this with methodological innovations, tool building, engagement with industry, and active participation in wider debates about the role of technology in public life.

Themes

Our research is organised in eight broad themes, where the Internet is having a significant effect on social, economic and political activity worldwide.